Ugly Formula One cars

I can't help thinking how revolting this year's generation of Formula One cars look.

The best looking of the breed is Lewis Hamilton's McLaren, largely down to a trademark fancy paintjob, but I've seen that close up and it is no prettier in person than it is online.

The problem is the vast fairground-go-kart like front wings and silly, skinny stepladder rear wings mandated by the regulations.

There have been plenty of ugly F1 cars in the past, but their aesthetic offence has often been an effort to get around contemporary regulations rather than conform to them.

Is this the first time in the sport's history that ghastliness has been built in to the regulations?

I have more affection for the aberrations of the past that were conceived (however misguidedly) to steer around the rule books. I loved the airbox on James Hunt's Hesketh 308, which some have slagged off, and adored the "teapot" Ligier JS5; both of these qualify, in my book, for best-looking ugly F1 cars.

Truly ugly – no redeeming features – were the Ferrari 312 T4 of 1979, driven by Gilles Villeneuve and Jody Scheckter, a ghastly slab-sided aberration with noxious wings at front and rear (which won both the drivers' and constructors' titles) and the infinitely less successful Japanese Maki of 1974 and Eiffelland of 1972, the latter built to the orders of a caravan company.

No doubt there were earlier horror stories (Ferguson 4WD? Early double-winged Lotuses?) and perhaps readers of a suitable vintage might advise. We might aim towards a definitive online ranking of racers that should have been stifled at birth.

The closest in appearance of classic F1 cars to this year's crop is the Ferrari 312B3 of early 1973, nicknamed (for obvious reasons) "spazzaneve" or snowplough. This evolved eventually into a long run of pretty and very successful cars, which just goes to show that first appearances can be deceptive.

The trouble is that the current regulations are so tight that none of this season's ugly ducklings will ever get to become swans.